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Banned: brutal calf bashing

After a huge public outcry, the government has been forced to ban the bashing of calves to death with a hammer, or any other blunt implement.

Most of us were appalled earlier this year to hear about this cruel treatment of calves, both by New Zealand farmers overseas and here on NZ farms.

The ban, announced in June, comes after many of our supporters joined SAFE in its condemnation of this cruel practice. Many of you put a submission in for this – thank you. While the announced changes will not address the underlying problems with the dairy industry, they are a step in the right direction of recognising that the suffering of these baby animals matters.

Many people are completely unaware that every year around 1.7 million calves are unwanted by the dairy industry. These calves are treated as mere waste products with little or no attention given to their welfare (this figure is in addition to the 4 million raised as replacements for their mothers or for veal or beef). These discarded animals are known as bobby calves – vulnerable young babies no longer required and killed at only a few days old. News about calf bashing bought the suffering of all dairy calves to public attention.